Ch.248Chapter 248. The Most Efficient

“Magic that heals disease?”

“Yes…!”

Though it seemed a bit random, I knew she wasn’t the type to spout meaningless nonsense.

“Let’s sit on the sofa first.”

* * *

I was able to hear the details from her.

“Your lord said that?”

“Y-yes…! Well, she asked if there was any magic that could be effective against disease.”

Reika’s explanation was as follows.

Recently, just as there had been magic that healed her, the question was whether there was magic effective against disease.

It seemed she didn’t know of such magic, but having been asked, she came to me, who was essentially her magic mentor.

“I thought that maybe Swen… my master might know… Since you’ve helped me when I was stuck with various things.”

Come to think of it, we met because she mistook me for a magician and I became her mentor.

Actually, I was just making things up back then.

After pondering for a moment, I decided to tell the truth to the hesitant Reika.

“Actually, I don’t know the details.”

“R-really…?”

“Yes. I only vaguely know that there’s a power called mana… but I don’t know how to handle it or how to amplify it. So, it was all just your talent blooming. I didn’t do anything.”

There was no reason to keep hiding or deceiving her.

Now that Reika had emerged as a magician, other magicians would surely appear elsewhere, so continuing the deception would be meaningless.

“Ah…”

Her voice trembled slightly, making me feel guilty.

“I’m sorry if you’re disappointed.”

I bowed my head, but Reika waved her hands in panic.

“N-no…! D-disappointed… absolutely not. Still, as you said, by going to the mountains to meditate… I was able to feel and handle mana better, and the number of spells I could use increased… It was very helpful to me. You’re still my only master…!”

“Reika…”

“S-so… there’s n-nothing to be sorry about… I think…”

I chuckled at Reika who was fumbling for words.

Right. When she’s saying all that, it would be strange to insist otherwise.

“I understand. Anyway… I don’t know much about magic that cures disease. Rather, I’d like to ask you.”

“M-me?”

“Yes. Do you feel anything, like a sudden realization?”

As far as I knew, she was a woman who had discovered everything from ice magic to the healing magic that saved Serpina recently—purely through her own intuition.

If there was magic that could cure disease, she would surely have sensed it.

But—

“Well… I haven’t felt anything like that yet…”

“I see.”

I had a bit of hope, but it seemed not.

Of course, if she had already realized it, she wouldn’t have asked me about this.

“I-I’m sorry… for being incompetent…”

“Incompetent? That doesn’t sound right coming from Reika, the continent’s first magician. Excessive modesty isn’t a virtue, you know?”

“M-modesty…! S-someone like me…”

Anyway—it seemed there was no magic to cure disease.

Here’s one important fact.

Why did Serpina ask Reika about this?

The answer was obvious. She wanted to save people. That’s why she ordered the forced relocation despite knowing it would damage her reputation.

“So how did the conversation end?”

“Well… I told her that there’s magic that temporarily boosts immunity to prevent getting sick… but there’s no magic that can cure disease.”

“I see… Wait, what?”

What did she say?

“…?”

“What did you just say?”

Reika blinked at me in surprise.

“W-what…? Did I… say something wrong? If I made a mistake, it’s definitely my fault, not yours—”

“No, no. That’s not it. You can temporarily boost immunity? Enough to prevent illness?”

“Ah… this is an application of the magic I used to treat Lady Serpina recently…”

Reika slowly raised both hands and began gesturing.

“So, in Serpina’s case, I concentrated mana on the wounded area to make that part particularly strong… In this case, it’s like spreading mana’s energy throughout the body to prevent disease…? Like, um…”

It wasn’t a proper explanation, but that couldn’t be helped.

Reika didn’t learn magic from someone else. She learned almost all magic by herself. Just as humans naturally try to breathe and walk from birth—she discovered it all naturally.

“So this prevents disease?”

“Huh? Oh… yes… The magic’s effect should last at least a week… so for a week, one won’t get sick. Maybe… they’ll become healthier?”

“Healthier?”

“Well, um… how should I put it… Strong people might become even stronger…? Since I’m spreading mana energy widely throughout the body’s energy…?”

Her explanation was still a mess, but that wasn’t important.

The point was that she could cast a kind of “buff” that enhanced physical abilities!

And it seemed that while under this buff, one wouldn’t get sick either. I’m not sure if medicine in this world had discovered this yet, but considering that disease breaks through weakened human immunity, her words were probably correct.

“Reika, how did you figure this out? That it would work this way.”

“Huh? Well, I just thought of it when treating Serpina…? Like, oh, I could apply it this way too…”

‘My goodness…’

One fact I always forgot due to her usual clueless appearance and lack of confidence:

The woman before me, Reika Nighthart—was the continent’s greatest magician. The first to appear and the best, the pinnacle of the magical world!

“But… for people who are already sick, gathering magical power won’t solve it… so I can’t cure them. So, in conclusion, I wasn’t much help—”

“No, Reika!”

I unconsciously grabbed her hands.

“Ah…!”

“I think that’s a significant discovery by itself. You’re truly amazing. Really… so amazing that all this modesty seems ridiculous!”

“O-oh…”

Reika blushed deeply and lowered her head, seemingly embarrassed by my praise.

Well, it might not help immediately… but now that I know she essentially has buff abilities, there will surely be opportunities to use them.

“I’m counting on you, Reika.”

“Huh? Oh… y-yes, yes…!”

She tilted her head side to side, not knowing how to react.

Then, smiling, she nodded at me.

Seeing Reika smile, something efficiency-focused within me began to feel remorseful.

‘Actually, it would be nice if she could live peacefully without having to use magic…’

But what can you do?

Those born with talent in troubled times are destined to shine, dragged to battlefields flowing with blood because of that talent.

Nevertheless, I hoped there wouldn’t be a need to use her again anytime soon—

* * *

“An epidemic… Lady Serpina?”

“That’s how it seems.”

I sighed deeply, looking at Serpina who smiled bitterly.

“Well, it can’t be helped. She abandoned her territory and withdrew troops for no reason. And conveniently, an epidemic started in the territory she abandoned. Coincidentally, a magician recently revealed herself in our army. And coincidentally, the one who did all this is none other than that woman—”

—Serpina von Einhart.

The infamous tyrant who shouldn’t have reappeared, who plunged the world into chaos.

“But in the end, these are just rumors, aren’t they?”

“Rumors… Yes. That’s all they are. But what can we do, Swen? You may not know, but… this is a very familiar situation for me.”

She told me that.

That she always feels all the world’s malice pointing at her.

What kind of life is it when everyone you trusted betrays you and aims for your head?

The depth of it was surely much heavier than the weight of the words she had spoken so far.

“And someone has conveniently ridden the flow of these rumors.”

“Could it be… Yurie?”

“Oh?”

“In this situation, I can’t think of anyone else who would benefit from spreading such rumors about us.”

As far as I knew, Yurie had already lost Erinandorf in a meaningless war.

The battle with the Chel army, her mortal enemy, had fizzled out due to the epidemic.

By blaming the natural disaster on our army, which she had originally intended to fight, she could regain the hearts of the territory residents who had left her…

“She told me she would avenge Erinandorf and Emma.”

“…What? Emma?”

“Emma Adeline. You must know her too. It seems she passed away after contracting the epidemic.”

…As soon as I heard that, I sensed it.

She might not have had any serious calculation. Yurie just charged forward in genuine anger without thinking.

But… if she thought about it a little, wouldn’t she know that making such an open declaration would only increase the risk?

If it were just rumors among territory residents, staying quiet would be the winning hand for her.

‘Besides… Serpina relocated the territory residents. Just thinking about this, there should be plenty of ways to break through…’

‘…’

“So… what do you think?”

“About what?”

“Whether the rumors will subside.”

“I see. Subsiding…”

Serpina slightly lowered her eyes and smiled again.

That smile that looked like it would crumble at any moment, the same one Irene had when Lynn abandoned her.

“What can we do?”

“…Pardon?”

“This isn’t the only malicious rumor that follows me. I must accept it.”

Hearing those words, I felt a surge of emotion and unconsciously raised my voice before her.

“But my lord! For that rumor to be proven true, Yurie must explain why you forcibly relocated the territory residents. Unless she can refute that, the claim that you used magic to spread an epidemic cannot stand!”

The strongest logic supporting the thesis that Serpina spread the epidemic was that she was an infamous tyrant.

But would such a tyrant forcibly relocate territory residents before an epidemic broke out?

Wouldn’t that make it seem like… she was trying to save these people!

“I’ve thought of that too. However…”

“…?”

“You may not know, but the sentiment among the territory residents who relocated to the undeveloped northern region isn’t very good.”

As she explained, there were people who had family members still in the central region where the epidemic was spreading, and they resented Serpina instead of being grateful.

Even when she imposed the blockade, there were those who had family members who hadn’t yet crossed over from the central region.

She had prepared herself for not being appreciated for her measures to save as many people as possible—but it seemed the receipt this world demanded of her was beyond what she had anticipated.

“That’s…”

“Perhaps nothing I say will get through.”

Is it being dismissed as mere coincidence?

She had an amazingly good sense. Even if someone pointed out this contradiction, they would probably dismiss it as ‘just a coincidence.’

“It’s alright. It’s not something I’m unfamiliar with. My life has been…”

…always like this.

“After all, I am… a tyrant who shouldn’t exist on this continent.”

Looking at Serpina’s profile as she concluded like that, I could feel anger rising within me for the first time in a long while.

‘What is this…? She made a decision for our army, actually saved many people who were about to die… yet Serpina’s reputation is worse than ever. And all because of an issue that wasn’t even her fault.’

Is this really the best outcome?

That from a strategic perspective, it doesn’t matter if she’s torn to pieces as long as we gain an advantage?

—It was then.

‘!!!!!!!!!’

Like being struck by lightning, I realized.

The meaning of “the most efficient answer” predicted by my intelligence 100 brain.